


A Needed Conversation

by super_heroine_addict



Category: Brave (2012), Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Lord Cothric Macintosh, Swordfighting, is what I decided his name was, shameless flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-08 01:24:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18885292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/super_heroine_addict/pseuds/super_heroine_addict
Summary: Prompt: Can you maybe do a conversation with merintosh about him kidnapping her brothers?Merida and Macintosh have to have a conversation after she sees him training with her brothers.





	A Needed Conversation

Macintosh had already been out training with his men when the triplet-princes came out. The three, as seemed to always be the case with them, were jumping and laughing at each other as they walked onto the training field. Their instructor, the castle swords-master, was waiting for them. The three just grinned impishly at his stern expression, and raised their swords.

The swords-master, Duncan, first led them through a series of strokes, and then set about teaching them a disarming technique. The three were good, not great, but good enough. Macintosh remembered Merida mentioning Harris had shown more interest in states craft than swordsmanship, and Hamish not taking his practice seriously enough. It was Hubert who showed the most promise, and was apparently dedicating his time to becoming to a warrior. Though Macintosh would warily admit to not being able to tell the three apart in most cases, he took a guess that Hubert was the one who seemed to grasp the moves the quickest. The lad was able to disarm both his brothers and Duncan within a matter of minutes. When Duncan was confident in Hubert’s ability, the boy was once again set to do training drills while Duncan watched Hamish and Harris practice on one another. It was clear from watching the prince move through his drills he had those down as well, and was bored and restless waiting for his brothers to catch up. Macintosh, who had also had a knack for the sword, took pity on him. 

“Swords-master.” he approached the group. The weathered old warrior and three spry lads all looked up with curiosity at his approach. Macintosh nodded towards Hubert. “I couldn’t help but notice his Highness seemed ready tae continue. Might I practice with him a bit and give him some more ta do?”

Duncan seemed surprised but grateful at Macintosh’s offer. He looked at the prince thoughtfully before shrugging. “I suppose, if the Prince Hubert be willing.”

“I am.” Hubert said, rather quickly. “Willing, I mean, ta train with Lord Macintosh.”

“Than by all means.” Duncan nodded his consent, and Macintosh moved to face Hubert. 

Hubert took his stance seriously. He raised his sword into position to attack or defend. Macintosh noticed his good, if not rigid, form.

He gestured to show Hubert he’d make the first move. His sword swung through the air, aimed high, and Hubert blocked in midair. He batted the sword away and made a swing towards Mac’s exposed side, but the lord brought his own sword at a vertical angle to stop it, causing the metal to ring together and sparks to fly across the training field. Mac had stepped to Hubert’s side to regain the advantage, and flipped his sword up to aim once more for the head. Again, Hubert brought his own weapon up to block it.  Macintosh swung his sword around to the other side but Hubert knew to pull his sword back and block again. The young prince used this chance to knock Macintosh’s arm aside and press his own attack. Macintosh too, was able to block each one.

The two of them moved in circles around the training field, continuing their practice. Each side-step led to another swing of the sword, all blocked with precision and strength. Macintosh, though not giving it his all, was duly impressed with the young prince’s abilities. Hubert’s form and stance were technically more correct than Merida’s, but Hubert did not have the same instinct for openings and ready guard Merida had. Hubert was too by-the-book, whereas Merida improvised even the most standard fights. 

Macintosh let the fight go on, even though he saw several openings to defeat the prince. He wanted to properly gage the boy’s strengths and weaknesses. But as he was doing so, he caught as flash of red and blue out of the corner of his eyes. He twisted the match a little and saw Merida herself watching the sparring. Her presence wasn’t a surprise. The Queen often came out to train with her men, and most of them, especially the Dunbroch clansmen and Macintosh himself, weren’t afraid to be rough on her. But it was the look on Merida’s face that gave him pause.

She looked _pissed_.

Macintosh was caught even more off guard when he found his sword abruptly flung out of his grip. Attention returned to the fight, he saw Hubert had used the same disarming technique he’d practiced earlier, and quite effectively. Men all around them had a laugh and cheered for the prince, who was smiling wildly at his victory. Even Macintosh couldn’t help but grin at the boy. 

“Nice job Hubert.” Merida called out. Hubert, previously unaware of his sister’s presence, spun around.  “Meri! Ye saw?” he jogged over to her. Though Merida beamed at her little brother, Macintosh noticed uncomfortably the anger in her eyes.

“Aye, I did. Yer getting good at this.” Merida shoved his shoulder playfully. “Dad would be proud of ye.” she said, quieter.

“Oy, what about us?” Harris said with mock indignity. 

“Yeah, don’t we get any praise?” Harris chimed in.  Merida turned to the other two with a playfully wicked smile.

“Ye two? Well let’s see about ye.”  Merida drew her sword and raised it against her brothers. The two smiled at her, than each other, than her again. They lunged at the same time.

A minute later, they were both on their backs. 

“Ye two need a bit more practice.” Merida said as she sheathed her sword. “And a lot more coordination.” She held out a hand to each, and pulled them to their feet with a teasing smile. “Now would ye three gimme the room?”

“We’re outdoors.” Harris pointed out. Merida shot him a look. He held his hands up and took a step back. “All yers.” 

“All of ye, out. I want a word with the lord.”  Merida told the men as she stared down Macintosh. The blue-painted Highlander only looked at her in confusion. Soon enough all the men had gone, and the two were alone on the training field.

“M’lady-“ Merida cut him off before he could finish.

“Just what were ye thinking?“ she yelled at him. Mac was suddenly very glad her sword was away and her bow out of sight. 

“What do ye mean, what was I thinking?”

“I mean, I come down here and what do I see but you swinging a sword at my little brother. Why on earth would ye think tha was alright?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Oh I donno’, maybe because ye kidnapped and tried to kill him barely over a year ago? Ye were gonna shoot him in the head! Tell me, Mac, is any of this ringing a bell ta ye?” Merida steamed as she yelled at him. Macintosh, helpless to answer, help up his hands.

“Whoa, Merida-“

“Your Majesty.” she corrected sharply. Though used to riling her up, something about the fire in her voice caused Macintosh to pause when she said that. He put his hands down.

“So we’re back ta titles then, are we? Because I trained with yer brother, my prince?” His voice was cool and steady, ready to push his luck and his ground.

“Because ye attacked the same prince ye once held hostage!” Merida’s voice was shrill and angry.

Macintosh risked a step towards her, and though she glared she didn’t move away. “I thought we’d moved on from that?”

“Just because you and I happened the way we did doesn’t mean I want ye hanging around my brothers.” Merida shot back. 

“Don’t ye trust me?” Another step. Merida didn’t seem to notice.

“Around them, na’ entirely no.”

Another step put them barely inches apart, his face hovering above hers. “I’d never hurt them, Merida.” Macintosh said in a low, almost murmur. “I’d never hurt _you_.” Merida seemed to realize what he was doing.

“Oh no ye don’t. Donae even dare try ta flirt with me right now, Cothric Macintosh.” She pushed him away and took a few steps back, but Macintosh just took the opportunity and advanced on her in a few powerful strides. She soon found herself pressed against the training ground wall.

“But I like flirting with you.” he whispered. His hand moved to grab her waist but she batted it away without even looking. 

“I’m serious Mac. Ye kidnapped my little brothers and tried to kill them. Can ye seriously blame me for not being completely on board with the idea of ye swinging a sword at them?”

“And yet ye don’t mind when I swing that sword at you.” Macintosh challenged.

“If that was an innuendo I swear I will send ye back on the next boat. Training with me is different.”

“I don’t think so Merida. I will nae hurt yer brothers. Ye have ta know I wouldnae ever threaten them again.”

“Because they’re yer princes?” Merida asked. 

“Partly,” Macintosh answered. “And partly because their good lads. And mostly because they’re yer brothers, and I know ye love them and I know you’d cut off my head if anything happened and I know just how heartbroken ye’d be if something did.” Macintosh steadied himself with one hand over Merida’s head, and bowed his head to whisper in her ear. “Ye can trust me Merida.” 

When his other hand reached for her waist, she didn’t bat him away. 

Merida sighed loudly as she closed her eyes.  “How could ye do it Mac?” she asked. “How could ye kidnap and threaten three wee lads like that?”

“How did I ever live without ye?” Macintosh asked in response. His hot breath moved down Merida’s cheek and onto her neck. “It’s the same answer. Truth be told Merida, I don’t know. I was power-hungry and mad. I did things I never thought I do. Ye may have saved yer kingdom Merida, but ye also saved me from myself.” he kissed her neck, making Merida have to stifle her groan. Without meaning to her hands found resting places on his arms. She bit her lip when he began to nibble at her skin.

“So yer happy I foiled yer plans? Both the taking my kingdom and the killing my brothers ones, that is.” She responded, trying desperately to hang on to the last shred of her anger. 

“Aye.” he said. “And I’m happy I learned to respect ye,” he said kissing the other side of her neck. “And I happy I fell in love with ye,” a kiss on her cheek, "and I’m particularly happy I get to do this.” he kissed her softly on the lips, “as long as I’m not being an arse.”

“If that was the requirement, ye wouldnae get to kiss me nearly as much.” Merida opened her eyes and smiled at him. Macintosh just kissed her again, harder and longer. She moved her arms up to wrap them around his neck. She pressed herself up against him until you couldn’t fit a sword blade between them, and he in turn pressed her hard against the wall as they stayed locked in their embrace. 

During a quick break for air, Macintosh leaned his forehead against hers and smirked. “Does this mean you’ll let me train yer brothers?”

Merida rolled her eyes and kissed the smirk off his face.

**Author's Note:**

> Lord almighty I wrote this forever ago and posted it to tumblr but I really hope some of y'all out there still follow me because I'm trying to get people to go follow the instagram @meridadunbroch2019. I'm in Scotland on a school trip and my friend is posting these amazing Merida pictures with the land. Go gie her a follow and forgive me for this shameless use of old Merintosh to promote her!


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